1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and program for discovering components in a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A storage area network (SAN) comprises a network linking one or more servers to one or more storage systems. Each storage system could comprise a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) array, tape backup, tape library, CD-ROM library, or JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) components. One common protocol for enabling communication among the various SAN devices is the Fibre Channel protocol, which uses optical fibers or copper wires to connect devices and provide high bandwidth communication between the devices. The Fibre Channel protocol defines a fabric topology. A fabric includes one or more interconnected switches, each switch having multiple ports. A fiber link may connect ports on a device to ports on a switch, where a device connected to a switch in a fabric can communicate with all other ports attached to any switch in the fabric.
During SAN operations, information on various devices in one or more fabrics in a SAN may be gathered. Such information includes the identity of a device and the relationship such device has with other devices, which includes both logical and physical connections with other devices. The information may concern devices from different vendors and thus require the use of management interfaces provided by the vendors whose components participate in the SAN. Prior art SAN discovery tools often utilize discovery routines that operate based on knowledge of the system configuration. Such discovery tools thus assume that a certain configuration is in place and that such configuration can be queried using the management interfaces provided specifically for the assumed components. However, discovery of the components within a SAN environment is often non-deterministic in that components may be removed and added. Moreover, failures in certain of the network components may not be detected, resulting in the discovery database having incomplete information. Prior art discovery tools may thus have difficulty handling such changes or errors because if the discovery tool is not configured to look for new or different SAN components, then such components may not be located.
Thus, there is a need in the art for improved techniques for discovering the components available in a SAN.